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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Southern Heaven

The humidity was thick enough to lick today here in Empire, Alabama. We walked early, but it was soon evident that we didn't walk early enough.

We did notice on our stroll as we huffed and puffed up the hill, that the blackberries are beginning to come in.
When we got back to the house and hydrated, I got the blueberry basket and headed back down behind the barn.
This is the first wave of berries. In the next few weeks, these bushes will weave their way through the underbrush and into the surrounding pine and sumac bushes.
Novice blackberry pickers don't know to look more deeply into the thicket for the choice berries.
They are not easy to find, and to get to them, one normally looks as if they've battled a bobcat protecting their young. But it's worth it.
The berries are often as big as your thumb and sweet as tart honey.
I got about a quart this morning and they were quite good.
This evening, Jilda did her berry magic and whipped up a blackberry cobbler pie.
We grilled fresh squash, cucumbers, onions, and corn on the cob. She'd baked a chicken for supper. We put on some classical music and ate in silence.......if you didn't count the grunts and the occasional "dang, this is good" comments.
For desert, she cut us each a piece of the blackberry cobbler which was still warm from the oven. She put on a few scoops of Briars Vanilla ice cream, and instantly I was transported into southern heaven.
It's not for wimps. You have to learn to deal with the humidity, but to me, the rewards are worth it.

It does sound like heaven! Our berries will be along later than yours but they are just as hard to pick and taste just as good! The humidity here has been thick this weekend but next week we're back to 60's...that's Ohio for you! Enjoy your southern paradise!

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About Me

I am an award-winning writer who often uses humor to paint pictures of life situations. "My goal is to leave the reader smiling." I write books as well as newspaper and magazine columns.I am also singer/songwriter who writes and performs folk/Americana music at festivals and coffee houses across the south.

My three non-fiction books are Life Changes, Life Happens which was released in September of 2012, and Remembering Big which I released in 2008.The release date for book four, Life Goes On, is scheduled for the summer of 2016.